Safety-machine



H. T. HAHN & J. SGHRUDER.

(No Model.)

SAFETY MACHINE.

No. 424,560. Patented Apr. 1,1890.

nllllllllllllllllllllllllli UNITED TATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY T. HAHN AND JOHN SCl-IRQDER, OF HICKORY GROVE, SCOTT COUNTY,IOlVA.

SAFETY-MACHIN E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 424,550, dated. April1, 1890.

Application filed July 6, 1889. Serial No. 316,729. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HENRY T. HAHN and JOHN SCHRoDER, citizens of theUnited States, residing in Hickory Grove township, in the county ofScott and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Safety-Machine,'of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in safety devices or machines forpreventing ac cidents to persons from the falling or breaking ofscaffolds and ladders upon which they may be, or accidents to persons infalling from buildings, windmills, bridges, and other structures.

Our improvement also relates to safety devices in which the person bythe use of a belt and chain or other device about his body connectshimself to the safety device, and by precipitating his weight upon suchconnection with the safety device clutches such device upon a wire ropeor cable, which is pendently attached to a sustaining object, and bysuch means he is suspended and held from falling; and the objects of ourinvention are, first, to provide means by which a person in falling fromany distance where injury would naturally result or into water isarrested, held, or suspended, and the injury averted, and, second, toafford facilities for moving the device up and down with the person ashe may ascend or descend in the discharge of his duties or labors. \Veattain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawin in whicl1- Figure l is a front view of our safety-machine withits wire or cable supported at its upper end from a beam, together withmeans for suspending such device or machine at any required height. Fig.2 is a side view of our safetynnaclrine, drawn upon an enlarged scale,the chains, wires, or straps being omitted. Fig. 3 is a front view, theout-er plate being removed. ig. a is an end view of the outer plate andmovable plate, and Fig. 5 is a front view of a vertical section of thepondent bar for sliding the safety device down ward upon its wire orcable.

Similar figures refer to similar, parts throughout the several views.

3 is the rear plate of the safety deviceor machine provided with upperprojecting s de rims 7, and S and 9 are two pieces forming the frontplate. The plates are held together parallel with each other by therivets 10, surrounded by the collars 11, against the respective ends ofwhich the inner faces of the plates rest. The upper part of plates 8 and9 also restbetween the side rims 7. The hooked clutches 12 are securedat their respective angles by pivots 13 and 14: through the plates, uponwhich pivots the hooked clutches may rotate. The ends of each of saidhooked clutches are notched crosswise or roughened, as at 15. The plates8 and 9, when secured to the rear plate, have an intervening spacecentrally and in vertical line between them. A movable plate 17, havingan inner vertical projection 18 and a cross aperture or slot 19, isplaced againstthe outer surface of the pieces 8 and 9 forming the frontplate, so that the projection 18 fits into the intervening space betweensuch pieces, and its cross aperture er slot registers with the aperturethrough the piece 9 for the pivot 14, which projects sufficientlythrough such cross aperture to receive a thumbnut 16, the end of suchpivot and the interior of said nut bein g screw-threaded.

A wire, wire cable, or rope 20 is pendcntly attached to a sustainingobject. In the drawing Fig. 1 it is illustrated as being secured to ahook and the hook secured into a staple in a cross timber or beam. Thewire, wire cable, or rope may extend to the ground and be there securedin any manner or may hang loosely. The method of attaching the upper endof such wire, wire cable, or rope must necessarily depend uponcircumstanees-as, forinstance, it may, when a person is working upon abuilding, be attached to any portion of the building which will cause itto be safe and convenient to the person. So, too, any means ofattachment insuring permanency and safety may be adopted. \Vhen soattached, the thumb-nut 16 is unscrewed sufficiently to permit theprojection 18 of the movable plate to be taken out of the inter veningspace between the pieces 8 and 9 and permit the wire, wire cable, orrope 20 to pass ICO into such miervening space and between the hookedclutches 12. The projection 18 is then replaced in such interveningspace and the thumb-nut screwed up so as to hold the movable plate 17 inposition.

The operator or person is provided with a belt 21 around his body orother device, to which is secured chains, ropes, or chain-links '22, theopposite end of one of each being secured to the outer ends of. the armsof said clutches.

The weight of the body of a person upon the chains 22 forces downwardthe arms of the clutches and throw inward the outer ends of the hooks,so that the wire,wire cable, or rope 20 is grasped between said hookedclutches at their notched or roughened surfaces sufficiently tight tosuspend the person.

Ordinarily the weight of the plates, hooked clutches, andbelt-connecting chain is such that the device will slide downward on thewire, wire cable, or rope 20; hence it is desirable to provide mechanismfor holding the device in a desired position. WVe accomplish this resultby providing a pendent bar 23, which may be an extension of the rearplate, at the bottom of'which is a hinged bar 24, the opposite end ofwhich is curved, as at 25, and which end has hinged to it a curved iece26, the front end of which is provided with a hook or clasp 27, whichmay be passed through a longitudinal aperture 28 in pendent bar 23, theinner end of the hook bearing against the outer surface of said pendentbar below said aperture, thus holding bar 24.- and curved piece 26 inthe position shown in Fig. 2. An arm 29 is loosely pivoted on the frontface of pendent bar 23, so that its end may rest beneath the hook orclasp 27 when passed through the aperture 28, as shown in Figs. 1, 2,and 5, and at the outer end of said arm is attached a rope, chain, orstrap 30, the oppo' site end of which is attached to the belt-connection22. By pulling downward on the curved piece 26 the safety device ormachine may be caused to slide or move downward on the wire, wire cable,or rope 20 against its tendency to move upward by means of the weightattachment, which we will now de scribe.

A weight 31 is attached to a rope 32 of sufficent length and passed overa pulley 33, which is secured in proper position to some permanentobject above the safety device or machine, and its non-weighted endsecured to the top of the rear plate 6 or to a ring 34, attachedthereto. The weight 31 may be provided with side projections,withvertical perforations to accommodate wires or ro'pes 35, the upper endof which may be secured to a perman ent object sufficiently above theweight and in line therewith, and its lower ends secured to the groundor other permanent obform guides for said weight in its movement upwardand downward.

The weight tends to draw the safety device or machine upward, and theoperator by means of the curved piece 26 pulls it downward, as he maydesire. To avoid accidents, the arm 29 has its front end resting beneaththe hook or clasp 27, and if the operator falls his weight upon the ropeor chain 30 throws the hook or clasp 27 out of the aperture 28, andpiece 26 and bar 24, through their hinges, drop downward, thus throwingthe weight of the operator on the belt-connection 22, cansing the hookedclutches to grasp the wire, wire cable, or rope 20 and arresting theoperator from falling.

In addition to the mechanism described for holding the device inposition, a spring 36 may be arranged around a pivot 37 on the interiorplate 6, and carried forward around and to the rear of the lower collar11, so that its rear end may rest against hooked clutch 12 to force suchhooked clutch against the wire, wire cable, or rope 20. Such mechanismis illustrated in Fig. 3 as applied to one hooked clutch; but inpractice both hooked clutches are to be so supplied with springs.

If the weight of the arms of the hooked clutches are such as to throwthe hooked clutches together and grasp the cable too tightly, so thatthe weight 31 does not act with sufficient force to raise the safetydevice or machine, springs may be arranged upon such safety device ormachine to bear upward against the arms, and concaved pulleys may bearranged between the rear and front plates to guide the cable 20 andavoid friction and misplacement. Many other changes and modificationsmay be made in our machine without departing from the scope of ourinvention.

From the description here given the mode of operation of our machine maybe readily understood without further statement.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

' 1. In a safety device or machine, the combination, with a rope, wire,or cable pendently attached to a sustaining object, of a rear plate, twohooked clutches with horizontal oppositely-extending armspivotallyattached to "such plate, a front plate in two pieces, with acentral vertical space intervening, secured to such rear plate with'saidclutches interposed between such rear and front plates, a rope, strap,or chain secured to the outer end of each clutch-arm and the free endssecured to a belt arranged to be secured to the person of the operative,a plate arranged to close the intervening central'space between the twoIOO pieces forming the front plate, means for at- 2. In a safety device01* machine having a 29, and rope, chain, or strap 30, substantiallycable pendently attached to a sustaining obas described. ject, andpivotal clutches t0 fixedly grasp such T T cable when sustaining theweight of the 0perative, in combination with a weight and mechanism tomove the clutches upward, the Vitnesses: pendent bar 23, hinged bar24,hinged curved CHAS. IIIBBARD, piece 26,1100]: 27, aperture 28, pivotedarm GEO. E. GOULD.

